Ahira's Hangar

Well, our Captain Nicky Lidstrom is back, but now we have lost Chris Chelios for a few weeks with a broken shin bone.

Nonetheless, everyone is very excited about the home and season opener on Thursday, October 9, this week, against Original Six team Toronto.

Because there is so much demand for tickets, they will be opening up Fox Theater in downtown Detroit starting at $20/person to watch the game on the 70mm screen and also get a concert from Def Lepperd. At the beginning of the game they will play Come On Come On and will give a concert after the game.

That kind of enthusiasm shows what a strong hockey base Detroit is. Those expansion teams out in the desert (both literally and figuratively) with their half-empty arenas must feel envious.

Unfortunately, the economy is so bad around here that we cannot express our support by attending many games. Starting last season there were empty seats at the Joe, and this season will probably be no better.

It would help if they lowered ticket prices so more people could afford them.

I can take my family of four to a Tigers game and sit in good infield box seats on the lower level, park the car, and get overpriced concessions for less than it would cost for just the tickets for two people to get into the Joe and sit in nosebleed seats.

Wow, I had the opposite impression - that a major league baseball game would be more expensive to go to. Admittedly, I had no basis for thinking that, except that I figured the league charged more in order to support the muti-million dollar salaries of their baseball players. I'm probably totally wrong about how the MLB system actually works, which shows you how much (or little) I follow baseball...

My comment about the "expansion teams in the desert" arose out of an article by the Winnipeg Free Press's sports columnist that I had just read. Basically, he was pointing out the irony of Wayne Gretzky being dismissive of Winnipeg's chance of ever having an NHL team again because we don't have the kind of mega-business support to make it work in today's "corporate reality" as he put it...MEANWHILE Gretzky's own Phoenix Coyotes, who've had plenty of corporate backing, remain money losers and poster boys for fan apathy in the new expansion era.

Detroit's baseball stadium seats more than twice as many people as the Joe, and this might be a big part of why the games are cheaper to attend.

Supposedly the only time the Coyotes sell out their home stadium is when the Wings come to town.

All of those Michiganders who had to go to Arizona to find jobs, you see.

Tonight is the night - North American NHL regular season opener!

Yeah, I saw the last 5 minutes of the Toronto-Detroit game. The Leafs had the upper hand tonight, but don't you worry, I'm sure they'll once again be struggling to make the playoffs by the end.

I heard the Leafs won 3-2, and the Wings looked rusty, and their passing was not up to the usual micro-precision, leading to lots of turnovers.

Season is long, though. Hopefully they can turn it around, and not lay a gigantic egg filled with poop like the Tigers.

Wings game one: 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs

My Sabres open up tonight v. the Habs - gotta get into hockey mode - this is a tought time of year, CFB, NFL, baseball playoffs & hockey....

Much better outcoem for the Wings tonight, as the Mule (Franzen) kicked into gear.

Red Wings game two: 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa

(My husband took me out to a charity dinner in a hall tonight. I kept sneaking down to the basement of the hall to watch the Wings game on TV with the staff. )

Sabres win on Friday, play the Ilanders tonite
Connoly out again - now they say he's got a fractured vertebrae in his neck
That guy has got the worst luck when it comes to injury...

A toast to Philadelphia sports fans!